Nitrogen and Phosphorus Balances of Hungarian Farms as Management Tools for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

At the moment, Hungarian agriculture is confronted with a certain duality as far as nutrients are concerned. On the one hand, national soil nutrient balances show substantial deficits, and on the other hand, agricultural nutrient use is responsible for a part of the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses to the environment. To understand this duality and help optimize farm nutrient management, the farm gate N and P balances of 12 farms, representing a variety of Hungarian agriculture, were calculated for the year 2002. The farm gate N and P surpluses/deficits in the east of the country were lower than in the west. This was correlated with a lower fertilization rate. The low soil fertility level due to a prolonged period of low fertilization in combination with continuing nutrient deficits can lead to possible future reduction in crop yields.

Keywords:

• Farm gate balance
• Hungary
• N and P
• soil mining
• sustainable agriculture

Acknowledgment

This research was carried out in the framework of the project “Implementation of Nutrient Balances in Hungarian Agriculture: A Management Tool toward Sustainability” and was financed by the Flemish government (project HON/010/02) and RISSAC. We thank J. Szabó, P. Csathó, E Kratancsik Horváthné, S. Koós, E. Harsanyi, and T. Rátonyi for their assistance in field work and in the laboratory.